Day Three - Seven

 Hola! It's been a while since my previous post, but quite a lot has happened over the last few days. Last Saturday we went to the Sofia Reina which is more of a modern art museum which, I'll admit is not my favorite style of art because most of the art looks like either a five year old made it or it just doesn't evoke meaning. For example one of the displays was an empty room that held 4 stone walls/ bricks and it was called a "Masterpiece of Mystery". The only mystery is how the artist convinced a renowned art museum that is home to some of Picasso's art to display it. Regardless there are some famous pieces in the museum such as the Guernica. 

Guernica is one of Pablo Picasso's most famous works, created in response to the bombing of the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. On April 26, 1937, Nazi German forces, supporting Francisco Franco's Nationalist faction, bombed the town, killing hundreds of civilians. The attack was one of the first aerial bombings targeting civilians and became a symbol of the horrors of war. Commissioned by the Spanish Republican government to create a mural for the 1937 World's Fair in Paris, Picasso chose to depict the tragedy of Guernica. He began working on the painting in May 1937, completing it in just over a month. The resulting artwork, a massive black-and-white mural measuring 11 feet tall and 25.6 feet wide, is a powerful, chaotic scene filled with symbolic figures, including a bull, a horse, a woman holding a dead child, and a dismembered soldier. 

After the day we went to the Sofia Reina, I unfortunately came down with a cold likely caused by jet lag and exhaustion, so on Sunday I confined myself to my room in order to give myself some time to recover. Monday, however, I finally moved into my host family apartment which is in a great location right next to a metro station, and above a supermarket. I met my host mom, Marta, and she is a very nice person. I haven't met her daughter, Clara, yet as she is still at their lake house in northern Spain until Saturday. I am rooming directly with one of my best friends, Sophie, and also with another nursing student, Katie, and a freshman girl named Nyssa. Our rooms have a lot of storage and space for us to study, so I am very happy with my living arrangement. After getting settled in our spaces, Marta took all four of us on a little tour of the neighborhood and showed us the easiest way to get to our campus. After that, Sophie and I went over to the city center to meet up with my aunt and uncle and Sophie's dad for a little goodbye dinner. We had a great Italian meal at a restaurant directly across from the Sofia Reina called Pinocchio. 

On Tuesday, I woke up feeling pretty sick again, so I stayed in for the morning with Katie who is also not feeling great and then we went out for a lunch at McDonalds. Yes, I know. I should not be eating fast food while I'm here in Madrid, but no, I don't care because we both needed a little taste of American food. We then went back to the apartment and hung out until we decided that we needed to go on a little adventure to go find a fan for our rooms. You would think this would be a simple task, however, after watching one of the two stores that sells fans close right in front of our faces, after an hour of searching for a small fan, we almost gave up. Luckily, our last ditch attempt for a fan proved successful and we were able to buy two fans for 17 euros each so that we wouldn't die from the heat in our rooms since there is no AC. We also discovered a little cafe on our way back which served good coffee and tea called Audrey Brunch and Coffee Bravo Murillo. Sophie ordered our drinks and to our confusion also received a donut which we don't think we asked for but were given anyways. Something definitely got lost in translation, but if the only consequence was a donut, I'm not mad. 

Yesterday, we decided to go on a little campus tour of the four different building where are classes will be which was very helpful as none of them are directly next to each other. Luckily our nursing simulation lab is brand new, so we will be getting to practice with brand new equipment for our first sim lab experience. After our tour, we found a little cafe called Ferris cafe where I got an amazing cafe con leche and a toasted ham and cheese croissant. I will definitely be going to that cafe again for lunch in between my classes as it is very close to SLU's campus. 

After our little snack break and a siesta, Sophie and I decided to go to the Prado for the afternoon and try to at least see a quarter of the art in the massive museum. Luckily students get free tickets, so it will be very easy for me to come back to attempt to see everything. Unfortunately, pictures are not allowed anywhere in the museum, so I can't post anything but we did get to see the famous painting by Vazquez called "Las Meninas" which was an amazing painting with so many little hidden details. After wandering around for a few hours, we decided it was time for dinner which we found at Lamucca de Prado where I got a pizza with some white wine which was very good and surprisingly really cheap for a sit down restaurant. 

So, that's pretty much the summary of my last few days as well as I can remember. Today we will be visiting the Archaeological museum since it will be raining the majority of the afternoon and on Friday we will be going to our orientation. I will try to post about that before we embark on our weekend trips to Toledo and Monasterio de Piedra. Adios!